User blog:Australopithecusman/Top Five Most Influential Cryptozoology Books
#5 Exploration Fawcett 1933 AD. The Real Life Indiana Jones Tenacious and eccentric, the British archaeologist and explorer Percy Fawcett devoted years of his life to mapping the hostile jungle territories of South America. He seemed impervious to the numerous perils of the region, which included rough terrain, malaria, dangerous animals, poisonous snakes, vampire bats and unfriendly native populations. After hearing oral legends and reading manuscripts during his early expeditions, Fawcett became convinced that a lost city built by Europeans and brimming with gold was awaiting discovery in western Brazil; he referred to the hypothetical metropolis, which he thought might hold clues about the origins of human civilization, as “Z.” In 1925, Fawcett traveled to Brazil with his oldest son Jack and Jack’s friend Raleigh Rimell. On May 29, he telegraphed his wife to report that the three men were leaving behind their Brazilian guides and forging ahead into uncharted territory to uncover the wonders of Z. They were never seen or heard from again. Although Fawcett had specifically asked that nobody be sent after him, various search parties attempted to rescue the missing explorers or at least glean information about their whereabouts. Their disappearance remains a mystery to this day, though it has been speculated that they were killed by indigenous tribes or perished in the treacherous jungle. Some theories about Fawcett’s fate seem less likely, such as the rumor that he lost his memory and became a cannibal chief. This is the true story of the real Colonel Fawcett, whose life was the inspiration for the bestselling book The Lost City of Z and an upcoming movie starring Brad Pitt. A thrilling account, it tells of Colonel Fawcett and his mysterious disappearance in the Amazon jungle, which is now considered one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century. The mystic and legendary British explorer Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett disappeared in the unknown and unexplored territory of Brazil's Mato Grosso in 1925. For ten years he had wandered the forests and death-filled rivers in search of a fabled lost city. Finally, convinced that he had discovered the location, he set out for the last time with two companions, one of whom was his eldest son, to destination Z,''never to be heard from again. This thrilling and mysterious account of Fawcett's ten years of travels in deadly jungles and forests in search of a secret city was compiled by his younger son from manuscripts, letters, and logbooks. What happened to him after remains a mystery. At the end of the 19th century Scientific American recorded the following remarkable events: "The Brazilian Minister at La Paz, Bolivia, had remitted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Rio photographs of drawings of an extraordinary saurian killed on the Beni after receiving thirty-six balls. By order of the President of Bolivia the dried body, which had been preserved in Asuncion, was sent to La Paz." The "monster" was reported to be twelve meters long (39 ft) from snout to point of the tail, which latter was flattened. It’s head resemblance the head of a dog and its legs were short, ending with formidable claws. The legs and abdomen sported a kind of scale armor, and all the back is protected by a still thicker and double cuirass, starting from behind the ears of the anterior head, and continuing to the tail. The neck is long, and the belly large and almost dragging on the ground."( "A Bolivian Saurian," Scientific American, 49:3, 1883.) One of the odd things about this report is that the saurian creature had multiple heads. It is not difficult to find examples of snakes and even turtles surviving today with multiple heads. Not long ago a two- headed lizard-like reptile with a long neck and tail was discovered fossilized in China. The specimen comes from Cretaceous rocks in the Yixian Formation in the northeast. Perhaps creatures like these gave rise to the legends of two-headed dragons. This news comes at the same time that the birth of a two-headed bearded dragon lizard in California has made national news. In later years, a few occasional reports concerning the "Madidi monster" would reach the west. Modern-day explorer Leonard Clark picked up stories of Indians seeing long-necked animals that browsed on the vegetation and attacked canoes that approached them. "Speaking of reptiles, old boy, Colonel Fawcett reached the eastern edge of Madre de Dios, out where you are going. It is a country of swamps apparently. One day while running his dugouts through it, he saw a great reptilian head rise out of the jungle, but before he could shoot, the head was lowered. From the noise the beast made getting away, he took it to be some sort of dinosaur. His Indians revolted and it was necessary to return to Mato Grosso. When I smiled, he presently added, ‘Don’t be too sure they don’t exist - we hear a great many stories from the Indians here!’" (Clark, Leonard, The Rivers Ran East, 2001, p. 41.) In 2005, Genesis Park staff mounted an exploratory trip up Amazon tributaries along the border of Brazil & Bolivia. Villagers and indigenous communities were contacted from the Rio Madre De Dios, up the Rio Beni and towards the Rio Madidi. Very little knowledge of any long-necked reptilian creature was uncovered, but what reports were received matched the information obtained about the mokele-mbembe from the expeditions into Africa. A strange dinosaur-like image has been found adorning a Peruvian water bottle that dates from 200AD (right). #4 Cryptozoology A To Z 1999 One of the thirteen founders of cryptozoology, Loren Coleman, famously published Cryptozoology A To Z with Jerome Clark. The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman -- these are the names of the elusive beasts that have caught the eye and captured the imaginations of people around the world for centuries. Recently, tales of these "monsters" have been corroborated by an increase in sightings, and out of these legends a new science has been born: cryptozoology -- the study of hidden animals. Cryptozoology A to Z, the first encyclopedia of its kind, contains nearly two hundred entries, including cryptids (the name given to these unusual beasts), new animal finds, and the explorers and scientists who search for them. Loren Coleman, one of the world's leading cryptozoologists, teams up with Jerome Clark, editor and author of several encyclopedias, to provide these definitive descriptions and many never-before-published drawings and photographs from eyewitnesses' detailed accounts. Full of insights into the methods of these scientists, exciting tales of discovery, and the history and evolution of this field, Cryptozoology A to Z is the most complete reference ever of the newest zoological science. #3 High in the Thin Cold Air 1962 '''Sir Edmund Hillary', one of the first two men to climb the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, has died at the age of 88, on January 11, 2008, local New Zealand time. He climbed the 29,035 ft (8,850m) peak with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, reaching the top on May 29, 1953. Born July 20, 1919, in Auckland, New Zealand, Sir Edmund Hillary began climbing mountains in his native country as a teenager and earned renown as an ice climber. He served as a pilot during World War II and as New Zealand’s ambassador to India in the 1980s. Within cryptozoology, Sir Edmund Hillary will be remembered, first as a man who hunted the Yeti. In the 1950s, curiosity about the identity of the “Abominable Snowman” drew Edmund Hillary into the search. Stories of hairy man-like creatures were known. Footprints in the snow and in mud were found to indicate some such cryptids were active in out of the way places in Nepal, Tibet, and the surrounding region. In 1952, Hillary along with George Lowe found hair on a high pass while in the mountains, relating it to Yeti. In 1953, Yeti tracks were found by Hillary in the Barun Khola range. The next year, two British members of Hillary’s team discovered Yeti tracks in the Choyang Valley. His trusted Sherpa friends would tell Hillary of their firsthand sightings of the man-sized Yeti. The Sherpas in Nepal know of several types of “Abominable Snowmen” in the mountains of Asia. When Hillary went to the Himalayas to look for the Yeti, he and his collaborator, journalist Desmond Doig, noted that there were several unknown primates said to be there still undiscovered in any formal way. Among the varieties was one called the “Nyalmo.” Hillary and Doig learned of the Nyalmo in north-central Nepal. It was said to be “giant-sized (up to twenty feet tall), manlike, hairy, and given to shaking giant pine trees in trials of strength while other Nyalmos sit around and clap their hands.” During most of the 1950s, Hillary was a supporter for the possibility of the existence of the Yeti. Late in 1960, Sir Edmund Hillary, sponsored by the World Book encyclopedia company of Chicago, left on his famous expedition to Nepal in pursuit of the “Abominable Snowman.” Category:Blog posts